How to Start a Blog

From time to time I have people ask me how to start a blog. So, I decided
to write it up here so I could just point to a reference rather than
making it up fresh each time.

The are several choices in blog software. Normally, I recommend
Typepad as the easiest way to create a
professional blog. Its a
service, so its easy to get set up and going. If you are technically
inclined, I'm partial to Movable
Type, but you'll need someplace to host it. You can sign up for an
account at Blogger for free.

I recommend that you register your own domain and point it at your
blog. That way if you ever decide you want to use different blog
software or move to another service, you at least stand a chance of
keeping things intact. For this to work, your domain has to show up in
the permalinks for your blog entries.

I recommend that you not tie
your blog too closely to the corporate infrastructure of where you're
presently employed since you may go somewhere else and your blog ought to
go with you.

Once you've got a blog up and going, I recommend that you pick a topic
and kind of stick to it. Decide what it is you're going to say. Themes
can be pretty broad (mine's Enterprise Computing, for example which gives
me broad leeway but doesn't just include everything). I go outside those
boundaries from time to time, but pretty much I stick to the topic.

A good way to get started is by referencing and quoting material from
other blogs and Web sites you read and then commenting on them as you see
fit. Eventually you will start to mix in longer essays that express a
thought that you want to develop.

Write about what interests you, not what you think your readers
want. If you just try to guess what people want and write about that,
you'll get bored with writing and it will become drudgery.

The way to get people to read your blog is to link to their blog and
say interesting things. People notice when you link to their blogs (either
through their referer logs or through Technorati) and will follow the link
back and read what you have to say. If its interesting enough they might
link to you, comment on what you say and, in so doing, drive traffic to
you. Read your own blog and follow the links (at first) to prime the pump.

In a similar vein, when you write something interesting that you think
someone would enjoy reading, feel free to point it out in an email. I'm
not recommending SPAM, just an email to a few people you know that asks
them to read what you've written and provide feedback.

At a minimum, make sure that your email address or a comment form is
available on
your blog for people to send feedback. You may want to experiment with
comments on blog entries and see whether you like them. Some people do and
some people don't.

If you're using blogging software, it will undoubtedly offer a way to
create an RSS (or ATOM) feed. Make sure its enabled and link to it
prominantly on your site. You should also make sure your feed is
autodiscoerable. To do this ensure that your page
template lists
your feed in the header as an alternate version of the page.

I favor creating an "About..." page to list biographical data and let
people know who the blog's author is. I hate going to blogs and not being
able to find out something about the person writing. Being able to know
the person, at least a little, is part of the blog experience for me.